A Fistful of Ryo

Fri Jan 14, 2022 4:51 pm

Mission 1:

Mission 2:

Yurei’s grip found itself clenched, mounting the Uchiha to the top of the cedar. He hung off it’s side, overlooking the thinning trees at the edge of Forest Country. Sharingan swirled beneath his mask, and Yurei narrowed them to slits. “They’re here,” he said. Smoke billowed out from a camp not 200 yards from the pair of Uchiha. Their information was correct.

Before departing Forest Country, Yurei had picked up a contract under the guise of Ochugen Yasashi, the name he’d used for two years now. He’d heard it on the lips of so many others and read it so many times that he’d come to associate it with himself more than his own name. Or would have, were it not for Damon. He was the only man who had seen or spoke to Yurei Uchiha in over three years, now. All else had been formality, a business exchange here and there, information gathering, or, like now, contracts.

“The camp is small. A series of tents - seven - and a few campfires still smoldering from last night.” Yurei’s eyes scanned around the campsite, piercing through the trees with the sharingan. “There’s a compound to the northeast,” he said, not moving. His mask’s face was fixed on the campsite. The compound was deteriorated. The paint marking it had faded, but the clay sealing over the stone base looked as if it had been fired several times.. Overgrowth had taken most of it. Had Yurei’s Sharingan not been activated he doubted he would have seen it. But even with the dense foliage, Yurei could still make out the blasts of jutsu the bunker had absorbed. “It looks old. Third Shinobi War era. The campsite is temporary. They must be using the bunker as a stronghold for their pillaging while they move from village to village with the camps in Forest Country.”

Yurei’s tomoe swirled, absorbed into his pupils. He loosened his grip and, chakra dwindling and accelerating within his palm, slid down the tree, coming to a firm stop at the end of a gradual descent. Presuming Damon to be next to him, Yurei spoke, “One of the contracts stipulated we not be detected or leave a mess, but it looks like the contractors have given us two assignments against one group. Best to be careful with both.”

The Uchiha’s voice hid his frustration with the political posturing they’d been assigned. Based on the contracts, it seemed this group had taken from the wrong people, and any indication this group had been hunted down in retaliation would implicate the contractors. This wouldn’t be the situation with Hasashi. Any record was unacceptable, even if it served as a warning or facilitated the Uchiha’s own ends.

WC: 450

Fri Jan 14, 2022 4:53 pm

Silver eyes peered from beyond the holes of a red tengu mask at the column of smoke rising in the distant sky. Damon stood at the base of the cedar, gazing up the length of the tree intermittently between maintaining awareness of their surroundings. The morning fog offered little cover to any who would approach, his eyes capable of switching at a moment’s notice. Dew sporadically adorned patches of grass and the sky was orange from the rising sun. He had grown accustomed over the years of course, able to pick his brother’s voice out in a crowd regardless of its density. His eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly at the notion that this bunker dated back to so long ago and had survived wars, let alone the stories that pointed to a great eruption. This was not out of anger, but an almost scholarly interest in the matter. Perhaps its survival out here was due in part to its lack of proximity to the original conflict. In order for one to belong in history, one had to know history. The end goal may have changed by now, but the preparation he had done in order to take on his past dream still lingered in the back of his mind.

Yurei slid down the tree and spoke, this time more directly. What he said consisted of stipulations and overt specifications- both things of which Damon was not a fan. He expelled a burst of air from his nose in frustration. “Not all of us can simply walk through walls…” he said, his voice trailing off as he looked over towards the fading smoke. “Well then,” he continued, quickly changing the subject. “Let’s move out.” He would respond to Yurei if need be, but he wanted to get closer for a better look. Assuming Yurei was following him, he would venture through the forest down to the camp, thinking to himself all the while. Yurei was obviously the better choice for stealth assignments, and his intangibility was one of the reasons he tended to pick up contracts, despite his unique appearance. But what was Damon to do? He had neglected a third speciality in the years since he was a jounin, instead opting to focus on ninjutsu for the sake of combat and genjutsu in order to avoid combat. Genjutsu, however, remained a finicky ability, as even opponents without a name or legend for themselves were beginning to grow more accustomed to the way he fought. He had already put far too much training and practice into his combat style. Switching now would make him far too easy a target, and he did not want to force Yurei to have to protect him. Even if it was for the sake of medical jutsu, as for the last several years any injury was left to be taken care of to the best of their ability as they lacked a strong iryojutsu user. The awoken dreamer wondered if there was a means for him to improve upon their weaknesses that would not put him at such a stark disadvantage.

Upon arrival, it was just as Yurei had said: seven tents. Now, it was Damon’s turn to activate his sharingan, his silver eyes swirling into a blood red. His eyes scanned the tents, which mostly seemed big enough to contain two sleeping persons for the night. At minimum, they were dealing with seven enemies, but more likely it would be fourteen. This, of course, did not count for whomever was inside the bunker, more than likely guarding any rewards they would be able to claim. Several men were running around the camp looking busy: hailing the others, raising arms. “Another raid might be starting soon,” he whispered to Yurei, assuming he was there. “Should we let them leave the camp and ambush them on their way, so as to not alert the men stationed in the bunker?” His eyes darted to the structure, looking for guards, of which he spotted two, walking the length of the fortification. One guard would walk to the end as the other did the reverse, eventually both converging back towards the middle, exchanging a few words, and back to the end the other guard had just been watching. Their pattern was simple enough for any fool to follow, allowing for their rounds to be as predictable as clockwork.

WC: 728

Fri Jan 14, 2022 4:55 pm

Yurei gave something of a snort beneath his mask, following Damon as they made their way toward the camps. His voice was quiet enough as to not be heard by those at the campsite, but amidst the loud chatter of birds and insects, it was hardly necessary - even for trained shinobi. “Yes, well some of us are better suited to some things than others.” The walk was short and uninterrupted. It wasn’t until the pair had come to a clearing where the trees were sparse enough to see the campsite that Damon spoke again. His eyes scanned Damon’s, observing his red Sharingan with his own. Damon had picked up a knack for observation and intel gathering that Yurei still wasn’t used to - but nonetheless proud of. Carefully, he lowered himself and his brother to a bush, their eyes just above it’s branches should Damon follow suit.

Up close, the campsite was much busier than Yurei had anticipated. His only conclusion was the same as Damon’s - that another raid was coming up. Otherwise, the bunker would also be on alert. “I agree. They’ll be moving out as a group.” Yurei looked to the sky. The sunlight filtered through the trees, it’s rays given a physical quality through the morning fog - as if Yurei could take the light in his grip. “I can’t summon a thunderstorm with Rain Tiger at Will without arousing suspicion.” His eyes narrowed as he returned his gaze to the camp. “They’ll know immediately. I would suggest nightfall if not for the raid.” Yurei sat idle, considering what Damon said as he watched for any changes in the group before them.

Yurei’s gaze followed Damon's, noting the pattern the two guards were following - as if on rails. “That is a sound plan. We’ll use the trees as cover and pick off any who might stay behind afterwards. They’ll need to make some distance from the bunker before we attack.” The Uchiha rose, finding himself behind the cover of the nearby cedar. “Those two will be simple enough.” The two guards only had the other in view for half of the perimeter they walked. “We’ll tail them, strike, and circle back to clean up before we take care of the bunker. Infiltrating it will be the difficult part.” He turned to Damon. “I may be able to get you inside. Or perhaps we’ll knock, hm?”

Taking one last look, Yurei nodded. “Very well, start climbing.”

With that, Yurei’s image faded in a jolt of motion, launching himself comfortably into the trees above him. His feet rested on the branches without a sound, and the first and only leaf to fall found his hand. The group would be easier to tail from above, and easier to manipulate. After all, these forests were known to become particularly dense.

WC: 467

TWC: 917

Fri Jan 14, 2022 4:56 pm

There was nothing besides the snort of some nearby wild species of pig to be said, which strangely enough seemed to make noise from beneath Yurei’s mask. Had Yurei voiced his own observations, Damon would have been flattered but then insulted, alas it never came to this so he continued on as normal. He was also behind the bush, as he had forgotten to mention the cover beforehand. His overall appearance was not one that was befitting stealth operations in the day, or even early morning as was the case here. His robes were dark gray with deep red accents that boded well for striking fear in the middle of the night. However, all it would take is the morning rays highlighting the bright red and making himself a blatant target. “I’m sure they would love the sudden and unforeseen gathering of rain clouds on an idyllic, nearly cloudless morning.” He kept his eyes forward, the jest more of an aside than actual planning. “If we don’t act soon, they’ll just steal more belongings, maybe even take a few lives.” His voice sounded distant and cold, the casual mention of people dying having become part of his norm over the past several years. It almost sounded like an afterthought.

“Those two, yes.” His red eyes left the two men on the wall, settling back once again on the bustling raiding party. “But we don’t know how many others are inside the bunker as well. It’s a reasonable enough assumption to say they would send no more than half of their forces out, leaving the other half behind. So it’s safe to guess there might be another dozen or so deeper inside the base.” Yurei elaborated slightly more on the course of action, which would appropriately begin with the raiding party. While it might be more advantageous on them to not risk alerting the bunker at all, the sheer moral fiber the two upheld would not allow for innocents to suffer a raid, all for the sake of convenience in this mission. “While knocking might be the more polite way to go about this, I can’t say how that will go over with our benefactors,” he pointed out. “We can discuss infiltration later.” To that, Yurei would suggest the pair start climbing. Damon silently leapt to the skies, coming to rest on a branch next to the one upon which his brother had landed.

“You know, I could probably handle these guys myself,” he would offer, suggesting Yurei’s time might be best suited to infiltration already. Here, the pair would not have to wait long, the raiding party having gathered most of their weaponry and members to begin heading in the opposite direction of their stronghold. Damon, regardless if Yurei was still with him, would silently dash from tree to tree, following the same route as their prey. The further their targets got from the bunker, the more he would appear to move with a sense of whimsy. He smirked beneath the mask, humming a soft tune to himself and biding his time. Once he was certain that the party was comfortably far enough away, he began signing seals, sometimes in mid air as he leapt. Boar → Tiger → Ox → Dragon → Monkey → Bird. The humming tune grew louder, drawing the attention of the party and making them come to a halt as they checked their surroundings. “What-” The man out front raised a fist, signaling a break in the march. “-is that?” He craned his neck, trying to locate the source of the song. “Where is it coming from?” another added. From their feet, a swamp in the earth formed and began to tug on their unmoving legs, slowly pulling them downwards into the depths. Damon sat on a tree branch and dangled his legs off, humming all the while. “Is that… a Tengu?” He gave a rehearsed laugh as he looked down at the now 35m diameter swamp of his own creation. We all have parts to play, he thought to himself, gazing down on the men trapped like mice.

“So,” his voice called out to the sunken targets below. “Who can tell me who’s in charge here?” They tried to throw their weapons, which mostly fell short of his tree top perch due to their awkward sizes and heavy blades. These arms were far more practiced in wielding, but not in throwing these weapons. The cries for mercy that came from below but would fall on deaf ears, those of his and of Yurei’s if he was still nearby. A kunai was thrown at his perch, but it would not make it halfway. He threw his own in response, the trajectory outlined by his crimson eyes ensuring that it was redirected into the loudest of the bunch, causing a small hush to fall over the entrapped group. Panic arose from an onlooker and was silenced in turn by another well angled kunai. If anyone began to truly scream, even the threat of such discovery was too much. Fearful eyes turned to the man in the front of the group, the would-be leader. “W-we get our o-orders from a-above,” he spat out. The Tengu performed the handseals needed for the scattering crows genjutsu, illusions of feathered birds flying about his person. He slid down the tree and used surface walking to traverse his own terrain, black feathers fluttering past his person. The masked man walked right up to the quivering leader, sinking further into the swamp. His eyes scanned the still living bandits, searching them for any weapons or handseals they might attempt to use to attack him. The crows served their purpose in keeping them on edge, the threat of a beak or talon keeping their guards up. “And where is this ‘above’ you speak of? In the bunker?” His eyes darted from beneath his crimson mask towards the direction they had left, the base of operations potentially hiding the ringleader. The man gulped, “S-snow…” he said, his voice trailing off, “The Land of Snow. Damon arched an eyebrow, not that they could notice. “I see,” the Uchiha spoke, “And you’re not lying to me?”

“N-no, of c-course no-” A glance into the Uchiha’s red eyes, beneath the mask, was enough to do him in. The tomoe swirled and the man collapsed, caught in a spiraling genjutsu from which he would not awake. This prompted screams of terror from those remaining, which Damon silenced with well thrown kunai. Once it was silent, he gathered up his own belongings once again, the same kunai he had just used and wiped them of blood, not bothering to pick up those that had been used to harm civilians. The enemy’s weapons and their corpses would sink further into the swamp until their presence in these woods was erased, the ground closing up behind them. All that would be left of their presence was a lingering thought from a man who did not spare them another.

WC: 1169
TWC: 1897

Fri Jan 14, 2022 4:58 pm

Beneath that horrible mask Yurei raised his eyebrows. Usually the two had worked as a seamless pair. It seemed lately, however, that Damon had taken the reins himself - working more independently rather than together as a unit. In the time the two had spent together since leaving Hoshigakure, they’d dedicated more than three years to complementing one another in combat.

Yurei and Damon fought as one would dance with a partner. Every step had an answer, every spin a solution. They fought as if they could read one another’s minds, but, in truth, so little thought was involved. It was impulse, instinct. They knew what the other was doing before themselves.

The Sharingan, one of the most powerful doujutsu, was apt for this. The ocular prowess of the Uchiha clan offered a form of precognition. These were not visions of the future, but they could see things before they happened, anticipate the actions of an opponent, and react accordingly and more precisely than any other clan in the shinobi world. Although, it was not exclusive to opponents. In the midst of power grabs, shaken loyalties, and pursuit of personal gain, the Uchiha had learned something few had. Yurei could see every muscle twitch in Damon, down to the fiber, every impulse firing in his body. He could read it as if a book, and Damon him. Before coming to the last page in a novel, he knew its ending.

For anyone else, the results were devastating - deadly - often without knowing they’d ever faced two individuals rather than one. And yet, Damon’s own determination had rekindled in recent months. He’d been dedicated to Yurei’s dream rather than his own for years now, but there was something different in Damon that the shinobi could see. Something of a fire. It wasn’t bright, but it crackled beneath the surface of Damon’s heart. It was more than cold pragmatism.

Yurei said nothing, instead giving Damon a firm nod. If he felt capable, far be it from Yurei to intervene. The Uchiha adjusted himself, fixing his eyes on the bunker below and Damon left in pursuit of the raid party. The pair of guards maintained their pattern as if on rails, and the nearby campsite had no direct line of sight to the ancient fortress. If the two guards had disappeared, they'd have no way of knowing without personally investigating, and with such a significant portion of their forces leaving, that was unlikely.

The Uchiha knelt, resting his elbows on his knees as he balanced atop the cedar’s branch. The shade loomed over him, save for his eyes seemingly glowing beneath that visage. He narrowed his eyes, confirming the pattern the guards had subscribed to. In a flash of movement, Yurei was there. He appeared just before one of the two, snapping his neck in a flick of motion before he’d even gasped for air in shock. He crumpled to the ground with the crunch of grass. Yurei looked down at the body, then to the guard walking away from him and the corpse. The Uchiha stepped over the body, his kimono softly dragging along the grass. Before the second guard had turned, he’d vanished, stricken with paralysis from metal against bone and the swirling distortion of space.

Not long after, the other guard had joined him.

Yurei came to the bunker's entrance, narrowing his eyes. The door was sealed. Nothing less than an S-rank jutsu could penetrate its walls. It was no wonder it had survived all these years, all this conflict. By conventional means, the bunker was nigh-impenetrable. By conventional means.

Yurei felt his body chill, and the soft breeze flowing through the forest’s air became stagnant and old. He stepped forward, passing through the door as if it did not exist. Yurei’s head peered through the stone. The bunker seemed much larger on the inside. Vast halls swept the grounds in either direction, though no one was present. Yurei narrowed his eyes. Genjutsu. He stepped forth, standing straight and now beyond the thick stone. He felt the stagnant air fall off of him, and the bunker’s musk took its place. His eyes widened for an instant, and his visual prowess swirled in a flux of energy. The illusion encased within the bunker dissipated, fading like the image of an oasis in a desert, and the clay walls curved not long before their reach.

It was quiet, almost lifeless. It was a different lifelessness than Kamui, however. Yurei could feel what had happened here - the battles this place had endured and the lives lost within it. As well as a fortress or bunker, this place was a cage. He stepped forward, and made his way into its depths. Slowly, he began to sink.

Guards were few and far between. They possessed little chakra, if any, and made for poor opponents. That is, had they ever had the opportunity to react. Hallowed screams were lost in the trappings of black holes. No one could hear them, and only Yurei could see their expressions as the words poured from their mouths and into their snares. They never reached Yurei’s ears.

Yurei descended nearly thirty feet, coming to a halt as the still air became interrupted by a rhythmic chattering of ryo. The Uchiha scaled the wall, rising to the clay ceiling as he exited the hallway. He stood straight, folding his arms as he gazed down. His eyes narrowed into slits, falling onto the pair of men piling bag after bag of ryo into the center of the room as others watched, drinking and laughing. Gold and silver poured out from the burlap sacks in a mount of glistening metal. With every thud Yurei could feel the weight they’d stacked onto the pile. The fortune must have been from the raid parties, illegal markets and the like. Yurei had no personal distaste for underground dealings, rather their consequences. However, he had come to respect it.

No stranger to the blackmarket himself, Yurei had come to appreciate the inner workings of its exchange. Despite the bloodshed, the greed, the corruption, the black market had pervaded the entire shinobi world no matter the village. It was a connecting force, once Yurei himself sought to create.

However, his use was simply a means to an end, a resource he assured himself he’d cast aside when dried of its use.

The chakra surging from Yurei’s feet scattered, and the Uchiha fell from the ceiling. The gold light glittering from the ryo reflected in his pale eyes, and, as he reached the pile, he vanished without sound. The two men carried on, piling bag upon bag, antique onto antique, and so on. But for Yurei, that stagnant air returned, and the boisterous laugh faded into quiet.

For a moment, he sensed nothing but the taste of metal on his lips. He closed his eyes and breathed. It was calm, at peace, and drifting beneath the floor of the compound he felt weightless, as if drifting in a quiet ocean with the moonlight on his alabaster skin. And then, he woke. Yurei rose, latching his thin hands onto one of the two men's heads. His chakra surged, and he launched the man downward. In an instant, he was gone. His head rose, and in the same pattern the man opposite the Uchiha vanished without so much as a scream.

“Hey, where did Hosuke go?” a man called out, rising from his seat. He stared at the pile of ryo, and at a split bag where the man in question had been standing. One of the other drunkards spoke up, saying something about the pair being lazy and slacking off. Before he could finish, his voice had trailed off, assumed to finally be a black out after numerous drinks. It wasn’t until the man who spoke up turned to see the Uchiha before him, bearing down on him with that mask adorning his face, that he came to understand. He, and everyone else, was dead.

And then, the boisterous room had fallen as silent and lifeless as kamui.

WC: 1347

TCW: 2264

Fri Jan 14, 2022 5:00 pm

In the meantime, Damon had ensured that nothing remained of the expedition party, as per Yurei’s stipulations, and returned to the camp. There were a pair of campfires that still burned past the attempt at extinguishing them, the smoldering wood releasing crisp black smoke from its dousing. The Tengu cast his gaze towards the bunker, the two guards on a predictable course no longer present. He’s in. He sighed as he began the arduous process of dismantling the tents. The goal here was that anyone who would know of this group’s activities would see the lack of a base camp to mean that the group had moved locations, spreading their exploitative nature elsewhere.

He would continue this until Yurei presumably emerged from the bunker. If he were to see his brother in ideals, he would let him get closer before sharing what he had learned. “This is just the tail of the snake,” he would begin, watching for Yurei’s reactions through the mask as he himself stacked the tents and camp supplies into a great pile. “I spoke with the camp’s former leader. He said they received their orders from a different group in the Land of Snow.” He signed several seals as flaming heads of demons appeared by his side and were used to ignite the tarps, burning away at what was left of these thieves. “Might be worth checking out,” he would calmly add. Should Yurei agree, the pair would make haste for the Land of Snow to cut off the head of the snake.

--Exit--
WC: 263
TWC: 2160

Claims: 20 stats towards vigor, 1 stat towards chakra
Mission rewards with the ryo doubled from the Beloved Presence skil (16,000 ryo, 40 AP)
248 words to D rank Chakra Mask to finish it off, carried over from here
1912/1500 words for Sharingan Copycat Technique at B rank, with the remaining 412/1000 words going towards the A rank version

Fri Jan 14, 2022 5:01 pm

The room was empty, now. Treasures sourced from villages razed to the ground were gone, and so too were its captures, housed in another reality, now. Yurei stepped forth from the bunker, eyeing the campsite as he peered through the thinning trees, or, what was left of it. Yurei met Damon at a bonfire, the remains of the group burning before their eyes in a heap of materials. As Damon spoke, Yurei watched the flames eat away at the tarps and tents, cots and boards.

He bent down, grasping a blanket covered in dirt at his feet. Yurei held it out in front of him, staring at the tapestry and the fire’s light danced through it’s woven fabric. “Land of Snow,” Yurei trailed off as the blaze surged. He put his fingers to his mask’s chin, turning to look at Damon. “He was forthcoming with information, then? He suspects we’ll die.” The Uchiha flung the blanket onto the pile and watched the fabric charge with fire. His eyes could feel the searing heat through his porcelain mask. Its bright embers dwindled and the sudden surge of heat fell back into the bonfire’s mass. “Very well. Let’s pay them a visit.”

WC: 200
TCW: 2464

-----EXIT, using one travel token for Damon and I - Snow Country 2/3 Remaining-----
22 Stats to Vigor = 95
2 Stats to Speed = 17
Beloved Presence (16,000 ryo, 40 AP)
2464/4000 Sharingan Copycat Technique Claiming B Rank Version, 464/500 A Rank

Sat Jan 15, 2022 9:24 pm

Approved

A Fistful of Ryo

A Fistful of Ryo

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